A significant number of consumers will opt for “Fair Trade” coffee over the alternatives, a new study finds. And they’ll continue to buy it even in the face of an 8% price hike. The study took place in 26 stores of an unnamed upscale chain. In one test, in half the stores researchers put small “Fair Trade Certified” stickers on the two most popular coffees sold in bulk: Coffee Blend, a lower-cost option (for this chain!), at $10,99 per pound, and French Roast, both more popular and more expensive, at $11.99 per pound. In the other stores, the researchers placed similar stickers that just named the coffees. Meanwhile, the stores continued to sell six other coffees in bulk, at prices similar to those. With a Fair Trade label slapped on, at those prices, sales of French Roast leapt 8% and sales of Columbian Roast jumped 13%, while overall coffee sales remained level. …

Biographies

Gary Rosen is the editor of Review and the former managing editor of Commentary magazine. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of "American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding" and the editor of "The Right War? The Conservative Debate on Iraq."